The Story

The Shop Floor Project has commissioned British artist Raphael Balme to create a series of oil paintings which celebrate historical figures with their exotic pets and, in the case of Virginia Woolf, their alter egos.

Dali & Ocelot

The Spanish surrealist kept his pet ocelot, Babou, in tow during the 1960s, even on the glamorous ocean liner SS France. The Colombian cat once accompanied him to an art gallery in Paris to the horror of the owner, who furiously confronted Dalí about the animal making a “nuisance” all over priceless engravings. Dalí responded, “A nuisance of Dalí’s can only increase their value.”